STRATEGY OF THE INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL UNION 2024-2028

Geography is a global science and an international discipline. As a science, it participates in the globalisation of knowledge, while as a discipline, geography is taught and used in every region of the world. As a result, geographers find themselves in contact or involved, at all scales, with a variety of institutions. IGU was founded in 1922 with the aim of facilitating international interactions between geographers. In today’s age of global science, this original mission goes along with geography’s participation in interdisciplinary scientific debates. IGU’s general goal is thus to contribute to the dissemination of geographical knowledge in world science, as well as providing better knowledge of the living environments in the many worlds it studies.

In more concrete terms, according to its statutes, the IGU’s objectives are as follows:

  • To promote the study and teaching of geography at all levels,
  • Facilitating the collection and dissemination of geography,
  • Initiating and coordinating geography research requiring international cooperation,
  • Facilitating the participation of geographers in the global community of scientists,
  • To promote the scientific events of the International Geographical Union.

The structure of the IGU is based on three components: i) the National Committees; ii) the Executive Committee; iii) the IGU Commissions. The Executive Committee (EC) is the corner stone of the institution. Following the mandate it receives from the National Committees, the EC engages on behalf of the geographical community with various scientific bodies; it includes the International Council for Science (ISC), the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (CIPSH), as well as other bodies that have a major influence in defining the global scientific agenda, such as UNESCO.

With each of its mandates, the EC’s strategy is to fulfill IGU’s objectives, most notably, in strengthening communication between its constituents, with other organisations devoted to geography, as well as within interdisciplinary bodies. More than ever, it does so in the context of global science and in relation to the realities of the regions that make up the world. For 2024–2028, the Executive Committee will focus its attention and actions in three directions:

The first concerns IGU and the community of geographers. Within this there are three components: i) IGU, as an international umbrella organisation, ii) national and regional associations, iii) the larger geographic community. The aim is to strengthen interactions and communications between these components. To achieve this, priority actions are:

  • To increase coordination between the components of the IGU, by arranging two meetings a year between the Executive and the National Committees, for one part, and between the Executive and the Commissions, on the other.
  • Strengthening communication between the components of the IGU also means linking Executive Committee meetings to local geographical events, wherever they are held.
  • Carry out a survey to gain a better understanding of the general geography landscape across committees and commissions and the wider community.
  • Strengthen links with the wider geography community by taking part in events arranged by geography-related partners (conferences, posters): ESRI, National Geographic, etc.

The challenge is to promote geographical diversity and interaction in order to keep pace with a changing world, and to remain a valuable partner in interdisciplinary research. Beyond these scientific and academic challenges, it is important to improve the image of geography and geographers by reaching out to all geographers, including those who do not work in education or scientific research.

The second set of actions should be directed toward strengthening links with IGU’s partners: i) international organisations, ii) public and private actors (municipalities, companies, etc.), iii) universities and educational institutions, iv) the media, in all their forms. Depending on the scale, several actions can be formally endorsed to increase the influence of geography and geographers:

  • Facilitate the participation of geographers as experts in international programs.
  • Inviting non-geographers to give conferences at IGU scientific events.
  • Facilitate and raising the profile of geographers’ participation in media events, such as exhibitions and popular science programs.
  • Facilitate festive and popular events around or with geography such as GeoNight, Geography Awareness Week, etc.

The challenge here is pursue and renew initiatives with public and private partners, and more broadly with civil society. What is at stake is the link between science and society.

The third area of concerns and actions is “the production and dissemination of geographical knowledge.” The overall objective is to make geographical knowledge better understood, in order to remain a major player in the global scientific debate. Again this has three main strands:

  • I. development: a working group may be needed, as well as an incentive to talk about these issues at meetings.
  • The Anthropocene and its consequences: bringing social, cultural, economic and physical geographers closer together and to facilitate interdisciplinary work.
  • Publication and open science: The results of geographers’ work are being disseminated in more and more varied forms and produced in a wide range of languages, thereby contributing to scientific diversity. The IGU wishes to disseminate the voices and studies of geographers from various parts of the world, promoting initiatives to disseminate their contributions on a global scale. To accelerate scientific discussion and geographical knowledge, it is important to encourage open science and interdisciplinary debate within the scientific community.

All these actions are combined with those already encouraged and to be strengthened, such as:

  • Increasing the relatively limited membership of geographers from developing countries.
  • Increasing the participation, particularly of women geographers and those from developing countries, in the activities of the IGU commissions, as well as in IGU events.
  • Improving the level of contributions from IGU commissions and working groups, as well as IGU national committees, to the IGU archives.
  • Increasing and improving the diversity and visibility of the activities of the IGU commissions, through online conferences/webinars, or by promoting a mentoring program for early career geographers and those from developing countries.
  • Improving the accessibility of the IGU website and other forms of communication in languages other than English. In the era of global science, there are discussions and debates over languages in many sciences, where languages of scientific production can be different from English, as the tacit global language of communication and exchanges. IGU can take advantage of its history and sensitivity toward languages.

A scheme accompanies this document, summarising the overall strategic vision for the next four years. The success of this strategic plan requires the active participation of all IGU constituents. All members of the Executive Committee are actively involved.